Foot drums still sound noticeably more sparse than the real thing. But the bass whistle does a surprisingly good job at bass. Have you tried full drumkit + bass whistle? I think if played well this could be a convincing rhythm section and not too gimmicky.
I think full drum kit + bass whistle would be really good, but personally (a) I don’t know how to play a kit, and (b) don’t want the logistics of a kit. I would be very excited if someone else wanted to try that!
(The recording in this post is an earlier version of the bass whistle; the current version sounds a little bit better.)
Cocktail drums exist, and there’s a lot of freedom in customizing kit size. If you’re willing to go electronic, you could go even smaller: just a multipad and a pedal or two. As long as you’re using hands and feet right.
You do need skills learned on a full kit though, preferably an acoustic one, to make a small setup work. But with your knack for rhythm, I think you’d try the kit someday anyway. Might as well do it sooner :-)
If you want to sound like a drummer playing a drumkit, and you don’t know how to play a drumkit, your music will end up sounding uncanny valley. Similar to e.g. writing midi piano without knowing how to play piano.
If you want to sound like something else, go for it.
Foot drums still sound noticeably more sparse than the real thing. But the bass whistle does a surprisingly good job at bass. Have you tried full drumkit + bass whistle? I think if played well this could be a convincing rhythm section and not too gimmicky.
I think full drum kit + bass whistle would be really good, but personally (a) I don’t know how to play a kit, and (b) don’t want the logistics of a kit. I would be very excited if someone else wanted to try that!
(The recording in this post is an earlier version of the bass whistle; the current version sounds a little bit better.)
Cocktail drums exist, and there’s a lot of freedom in customizing kit size. If you’re willing to go electronic, you could go even smaller: just a multipad and a pedal or two. As long as you’re using hands and feet right.
You do need skills learned on a full kit though, preferably an acoustic one, to make a small setup work. But with your knack for rhythm, I think you’d try the kit someday anyway. Might as well do it sooner :-)
Why? Naively I’d expect if your goal is to get good with a given setup your fastest path would be practicing with that setup.
If you want to sound like a drummer playing a drumkit, and you don’t know how to play a drumkit, your music will end up sounding uncanny valley. Similar to e.g. writing midi piano without knowing how to play piano.
If you want to sound like something else, go for it.